After collapse, new Sabreliner owner hires employees back

Innovative Capital Holdings, the Naples, Fla.-based turnaround firm that bought Sabreliner Corp.’s assets, has hired back 103 former employees and plans to continue to operate the company as a defense contractor.

The new firm, Sabreliner Services, has maintained the company’s aviation facilities in Ste. Genevieve, Mo., and Perryville, Mo., according to Bob Stockard, CEO of Sabreliner Services. Stockard declined to say what Innovative Capital Holdings paid for Sabreliner’s assets, but individuals with knowledge of the company said it has annual revenue of $40 million to $60 million.

Sabreliner’s employees are no longer unionized. David Bruckerhoff, business agent for the Teamsters Local 600, said that Sabreliner employees who were once union members have been given “honorable withdrawals,” meaning they can get another job with the Teamsters.

In Ste. Genevieve, Sabreliner employs roughly 40 people, who will continue to work on the KC-135 Stratotanker, an older military refueling aircraft. The U.S. Air Force runs a program there, called the Center for Aircraft Structural Life Extension, in which the planes are dismantled and checked for defects, Stockard said. That five-year Air Force contract is worth $90 million, $60 million of which has not yet been billed.

In Perryville, the company employs about 60 people, including corporate staff. The former Sabreliner Clayton headquarters still belongs to Sabreliner Corp., according to Stockard. Former Sabreliner executives F. Holmes Lamoreux and Susan Aselage, who resigned in January, could not be reached.

Sabreliner continues to service aircraft in Perryville, including corporate jets. In addition, the company’s repair shop handles parts of the P3 Orion, an anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft. The Perryville location also includes a painting hanger, where about one plane is painted per week, Stockard said.

The collapse of Sabreliner Corp. came in January, when the company sent a termination letter to all its employees. The company, founded in 1983, had been laying off employees in the past few years. As many as 500 people worked there at one point, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The company was shopped to potential buyers for most of 2013, the person said.

Court records indicate the company was in trouble for some time.

Its landlord in Clayton, KBSII Pierre Laclede Center LLC, sued Sabreliner in January for back rent of $114,037. Its annual rent at Pierre Laclede Center, 7701/7733 Forsyth Blvd., fluctuated from about $250,000 to $270,000, court records show.

Also in February, a Wyoming doctor sued Sabreliner, demanding $1.7 million for botched repairs.

A lawsuit filed in April by Banyan Crest Capital LLC says that Sabreliner Corp. owes nearly $3.2 million on a loan made by BMO Harris. BMO assigned the loan to Banyan, effective Jan. 17.

Further, six additional lawsuits filed in 2013 name Sabreliner as a defendant, according to court records, including one filed by its landlord in Perryville.

Numerous complaints against Sabreliner have also been filed with the National Labor Relations Board. Teamsters Local 600’s allegations against the company include coercive statements and repudiation/modification of contract. Two of those complaints, filed Feb. 11 and Jan. 29, are listed as open.